“Guide Death and Life Once More”
Art:Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
by Chris Rahn
Table of Contents
Todays Featured Commander Is:
From feared in standard to an EDH table near you, Sheoldred, The Apocalypse will not make you the most popular player, but it a fun commander that punishes a ton of the best decks in the format and really makes drawing any cards a hassle. Combine this with our package of ways to force our opponents to draw cards and we have a winning recipe, although not a popular recipe! Without further Adieu Lets Get It!
The Deck:
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Wheels!
Why Sheoldred, the Apocalypse?
The main reason we chose Sheoldred is how she punishes a core aspect of the game, even if there is only draw on an opponents turn, you are still basically casting Shock
on every turn, which can get out of hand. Now if you have an opponent who is drawing a bunch of cards, or we are forcing our opponents to draw we can easily kill our opponents. On top of the offensive and defensive abilities of Sheoldred we can also easily attack since she is a 4/5 with deathtouch. Sheoldred is all-around just an absolute house of a card and a really great leader for our deck!
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! For explanations of the combos please refer to the “Main Win Conditions” section below!
Creatures:
Our creature package is full of some real menaces including the fairly new Orcish Bowmasters
which is basically another mini-Sheoldred with a creature payoff. We also have some cards that can trigger Sheoldred like Master of the Feast
, Seizan, Perverter of Truth
which are both great ways to damage our opponents through Sheoldreds trigger.
Crypt Ghast
and Nirkana Revenant
are both great ways to double up our mana and keep casting some spells! Since we are a mono-black deck we easily have a bunch of devotion to black one of our best finishers is Gray Merchant of Asphodel
which is a great way to gain a ton of life and super damage our opponents! We included Tree of Perdition
in the deck since we can tree an opponent and force them to draw cards and kill them very easily with Sheoldred!
Planeswalkers:
We only have two planeswalkers but both of them have large impact on our gameplan, the biggest impact is felt by Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted
since this can turn our Sheoldred triggers into a Lightning Bolt
every turn, and Ob Nixilis is also a great way to end games!
Liliana of the Dark Realms
is also a pretty sweet walker that lets us tutor for a land and can also come down pretty early! Being able to buff one of our creatures or kill an opponents creature is another great benefit that we can easily take advantage of. Liliana’s ult is rarely used but being able to make that much mana can really help when we go to cast some of our X spells in the late game.
Instants:
Our instant package has seem pretty sweet cards like Vampiric Tutor
which is a great way for us to search our library for one of our combo pieces or just anything we need. Imp's Mischief
is a great way to protect Sheoldred from a piece of single target removal at the cost of some life which is in good supply because of Sheoldred.
Withering Boon
is an effect that you don’t see to much in black but another way to protect Sheoldred is never looked down on. Dismember
is another early way to deal with any problematic creatures, Sheoldred’s ability also makes it so the max 4 life we would pay really doesnt matter. Baleful Mastery
is another interesting kill-spell since we can also make our opponent draw a card, which isnt even a drawback in our deck.
Sorceries:
We have some pretty sweet sorceries like Torment of Hailfire
which is a great way for us to damage our opponents or destroy their board or hands! Toxic Deluge
is the ultimate black boardwipe and because of Sheoldred the life hit doesn’t really matter that much for us! Eldritch Pact
can easily be a game-ending spell especially against mill or graveyard based strategies.
Deadly Tempest
can be a great game-ender or a great way to reset the game, as long as we are damaging our opponents we really don’t care. Mutilate
is another pretty sweet board wipe that has the advantage of hitting even indestructible creatures. Sheoldred really changes the game with her out even cards like Painful Lesson
can be a net positive for us!
Artifacts:
We of course have some mana rocks like Arcane Signet
and Sol Ring
but we also have some mono-black specific ones like Extraplanar Lens
which can help us easily ramp like crazy. We also have The One Ring
which is a great one turn protection and lets us draw a ridiculous amount of cards and with Sheoldred out this card barely affects us.
We also have some cards that interact with Sheoldred very well like Teferi's Puzzle Box
, Credit Voucher
, Temple Bell
. All of these are amazing ways to trigger Sheoldred and gain some life and deal some damage.
Enchantments:
One of the coolest enchantments in our deck is Painful Quandary
this card is annoying against any deck but really ramps it up when we play a deck that wants to cast a lot of spells since they will pretty much always have to take the life, at the end of the game this can easily threaten opponents life total to the point of death. Underworld Dreams
is another way to hurt our opponents for drawing a card. Greed
is another sweet card in our deck since we can effectively negate the lifeloss with Sheoldred out.
Land Base:
Our land base is pretty simple since we are in mono-black we do have Cabal Coffers
and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
as ways to make an absolute ton of mana and cast some of our big permanents and spells a little earlier. Since we are a mono-color deck our mana base as expected is quite simple.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Easy to passively damage opponents
- Commander can come down as early as turn 2
- Great against decks that draw a lot of cards
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- Deck is noticeably weaker without Sheoldred on the field
- Weak to commander hate
- Weak to countermagic
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
We typically win through either triggering Sheoldred a bunch or by one of our many combos, below are the combos we have in the deck explained!
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse + Peer into the Abyss
Requires:
Peer into the Abyss in hand. Sheoldred on the battlefield. An opponent has a library size that is at least half their life total. 4BBB available.
Steps:
- Cast Peer into the Abyss by paying 4BBB, causing an opponent to draw cards equal to half their library size and lose half their life total, rounded up.
- Sheoldred’s second ability triggers for each card drawn this way.
- Resolve the first Sheoldred trigger, causing the opponent to lose 2 life.
- Repeat step 3 until the opponent loses the game due to having zero or less life.
Results:
Target opponent loses the game. Near-infinite lifeloss for target opponent. Near-infinite card draw for target opponent. Near-infinite draw triggers for target opponent.
Underworld Dreams + Peer into the Abyss
Requires:
Underworld Dreams on the battlefield. Peer Into the Abyss in hand. 4UUU available. An opponent has cards in their library greater than their life total.
Steps:
- Cast Peer Into the Abyss targeting an opponent.
- That player loses half their life and draws half their library.
- They are then dealt damage by Underworld Dreams equal to the amount of cards they drew.
- That player loses the game.
Results:
Kill an opponent.
Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted + Peer into the Abyss
Requires:
Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted on the battlefield. Peer into the Abyss in hand. 4BBB available. Target player has cards in library equal to or greater than their life total.
Steps:
- With Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted on the battlefield, cast Peer into the Abyss targeting an opponent.
- Peer into the Abyss would resolve (with card draw and life loss rounded up in instances of odd number of cards or life), and then the static ability on Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted dealing damage for each card drawn.
Results:
Target player loses the game.
Alhammarret's Archive
+ Peer into the Abyss
Requires:
Alhammarret’s Archive on the battlefield. Peer into the Abyss in hand. You have an even deck size. Your life total is at least two. 4BBB available.
Steps:
- Cast Peer into the Abyss by paying 4BBB, causing you to lose half your life total rounded up and draw your library due to Alhammarret’s Archive.
Results:
Infinite card draw. Infinite draw triggers.
Exquisite Blood
+ Sanguine Bond
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield. You have a way to gain life or a way to cause an opponent to lose life.
Steps:
- Gain life.
- Sanguine Bond triggers, causing target opponent to lose life equal to the amount you just gained.
- Exquisite Blood triggers, gaining you life equal to the amount of life the opponent lost.
- Repeat from step 2.
Results:
Infinite lifegain. Infinite lifegain triggers. Infinite lifeloss.
Exquisite Blood + Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield. You have a way to gain life or a way to cause an opponent to lose life.
Steps:
- Gain life.
- Vito triggers, causing target opponent to lose life equal to the amount you just gained.
- Exquisite Blood triggers, gaining you life equal to the amount of life the opponent lost.
- Repeat from step 2.
Results:
Infinite lifegain. Infinite lifegain triggers. Infinite lifeloss.
Exquisite Blood + Marauding Blight-Priest
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield. A way to gain life or cause an opponent to lose life.
Steps:
- Gain life.
- Marauding Blight-Priest triggers, causing each opponent to lose 1 life.
- Exquisite Blood triggers for each opponent that lost life.
- Resolve one of the Exquisite Blood triggers, gaining 1 life.
- Repeat from step 2.
Results:
Infinite lifegain. Infinite lifegain triggers. Infinite lifeloss.
Orcish Bowmasters + Peer into the Abyss
Requires:
Peer into the Abyss in hand. Orcish Bowmasters on the battlefield. An opponent has a library size which is larger than or equal to their life total. 4BBB available.
Steps:
- Cast Peer into the Abyss by paying 4BBB, targeting an opponent whose library size is larger than or equal to their life total.
- Resolve Peer into the Abyss, causing that opponent to draw cards equal to half their library size and causing them to lose half their life total, rounded up.
- Orcish Bowmasters triggers for each card drawn, dealing 1 damage to the opponent for each card drawn this way and putting that many +1/+1 counters on an Army you control.
- The opponent loses the game due to having zero or less life.
Results:
Target opponent loses the game. Near-infinite damage. Near-infinite +1/+1 counters on target Army you control. Near-infinite card draw for target opponent. Near-infinite draw triggers for target opponent.
Maralen of the Mornsong
+ Opposition Agent
Requires:
All permanents on the battlefield.
Steps:
- At the beginning of your draw step, Maralen triggers, causing you to lose three life, then search your library for a card and put it into your hand.
- During each opponent’s draw step, Maralen triggers, causing them to lose three life, then causing you to search their library for a card and exile it.
- You may play cards exiled this way due to Opposition Agent.
Results:
Players cannot draw cards. Tutor for any card in an opponent’s library during their draw step with the ability to play that card.
As you can see we have a lot of combos that utilize the same card making it very easy for us to go off and just end the game for our opponents!
Conclusion:
In conclusion Sheoldred is a sweet general for a pretty punishing mono-black deck, this deck brings the pain and I would expect the rest of the table to not be a huge fan of what you are doing! Sheoldred is strong against really any deck, EDH is full of cards that allow you to draw beyond your draw step card and Sheoldred punishes all draws. Being able to save yourself with the lifegain is a great touch as well! This deck can be an absolute pain to deal with and is also a ton of fun to play! Hope you enjoyed please let us know on discord or twitter any feedback you have!